Terming demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes as a “historic and revolutionary” step, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari Wednesday said this will weed out black money from the system and strengthen national security as fake notes were being smuggled from Bangladesh and Pakistan borders. The Minister said the poor will not suffer from it but it was going to spell doom for corrupt people, including politicians who had stacked blackmoney in their houses and godowns.

“Our government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken this historic and revolutionary step in the history of our country. Fake currency notes were coming from Pakistan and Bangladesh borders raising several questions about the security of the country,” Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Gadkari said addressing media. This was a much needed step for country’s security, economic independence and historic, he said adding, no poor man will suffer from it.

The Minister said Rs 1.5 lakh crore black money has already been released. Gadkari said the need for new technology for the Indian currency was also being felt so that “nobody could convert these into fake currencies.”

He said the system had become such rotten that black money circulation had become rampant including in buying flats etc so “we decided to stop these.” The Minister said honest employees and poor people have hailed the decision as “those who can declare their source of income can always deposit the same in banks and get new currency in lieu of it.”

There is no need to panic for the common masses, the Minister said, adding this will spell doom only for the corrupt ones including politicians who “had crores of such unaccounted money in their homes and godowns”. In a lighter vein the Minister quipped, such people could utilise such money only during winters now. “People will have to declare their source of income before depositing large amounts of currency in banks and black money would be weeded out from the system,” he said.

He said, “We are gradually proceeding towards digital currency” and added that whatever problems people were facing was just a teething trouble as black money economy will be wiped out. Asked about its impact on infrastructure, the Minister said there would not be any adverse impact as all work in concerned Ministries is being done in a fairly transparent manner.